IT SEEMS extraordinary that a young goalkeeper who played more than 200 first-team games for Brighton quit the professional game at 24.
Nicky Rust had been one of the country’s elite young players when he graduated from the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall. Then, at Arsenal, he was coached by the club’s legendary former ‘keeper Bob Wilson and trained alongside England international David Seaman.
But with little likelihood of 18-year-old Rust dislodging the established Seaman any time soon (and Alan Miller as back-up), Arsenal let him go in the spring of 1993. He ended up playing for five different managers in five years with the Albion.
Young Rust found himself picking the ball out of his net after only four minutes of his debut in Albion’s colours. That was on trial on 23 April 1993 away to Norwich City when Albion’s reserves, under Larry May, were looking for their first win in TWENTY attempts!
The Canaries included big money signing Efan Ekoku in their side and he opened the scoring before Rust had even had chance to break into a sweat.
However, a fairly strong Brighton side, including striker Andy Kennedy, returning to action after a back injury, Ian Chapman and Dean Wilkins, equalised with a Wilkins special: a 25-yard free kick that flew into the top corner past Mark Walton, a goalkeeper who would join Brighton five years later. Kennedy won it for the Albion with a cool finish past Walton in the last minute of the game.
Rust’s arrival was as a direct replacement for Mark Beeney, whose £350,000 move to Leeds three days previously had quite literally saved the club from going under (all the money went to pay an overdue tax bill with the Inland Revenue threatening to wind up the Albion).
By the time the summer came round, cash-strapped Albion also let go long-serving ‘keeper Perry Digweed, who’d been with the club for 12 years. So Rust, still only 18, suddenly found himself first choice at the start of the new season.
“I was thrown in the deep end and didn’t have time to think about nerves,” Rust told the Argus in a 2002 interview. “Barry Lloyd brought me in. Obviously, like any youngster, I had aspirations of making it in the Premiership.”
Arsenal boss George Graham was a former teammate of Lloyd’s going back to their days together at Chelsea and that friendship had already helped Albion obtain the services of defender Colin Pates on loan two years earlier (Pates also made a permanent move to the Albion that summer).
“Arsenal were and are a big club,” said Rust. “I had Bob Wilson as a goalkeeping coach and David Seaman was there offering me a lot of good, sound advice. He was a bit like myself in temperament, laid back, and we got on very well. But unfortunately for me it didn’t work out, and I was released. I was pleased Albion wanted me.”
Albion lost their opening two games, 2-0 at Bradford City in the league and 1-0 at Gillingham in the League Cup but two wins and a draw followed. While the side’s subsequent poor form ultimately led to the end of Lloyd’s reign, Rust kept his place when Liam Brady took over and was Albion’s regular no.1 for the next four years, much of which was played out against huge turbulence off the pitch.
“There was a lot of turmoil when I was there and saving our league status was a huge relief and was, in a strange way, one of my highlights,” he said. “The club’s problems were constantly there in the background and we were getting headlines for all the wrong reasons.”
On the pitch, Rust only missed two games in his first three years at the Albion. He equalled a club record for clean sheets with five on the bounce across February and March 1995.
The young goalkeeper had his own place in Portslade and also proved to be something of a landlord for other young players. He welcomed to his home temporarily during their loan spells former Arsenal teammates Mark Flatts and Paul Dickov and, longer term, striker Junior McDougald who had been at Lilleshall at the same time.
“Even though he was ex-Spurs and I was an ex-Gunner we got on really well,” he said. “We came from similar areas. I was from Cambridgeshire and he was from Huntingdonshire.”
Rust played his 100th league game for the Albion away to Bournemouth the day before he celebrated his 21st birthday on 25 September 1995. Teammate Steve Foster celebrated his 38th birthday on the day of the game, which Brighton lost 3-1. “Fozzie was a big influence in the dressing room,” Rust remembered. “He was highly respected and one of the loud characters. I certainly got my ear bent.”
Rust’s 210 games for Albion place him eighth in the list of longest-serving goalkeepers in the club’s entire history. But an injury and loss of form in the 1996-97 season led to him losing his place to local lad Mark Ormerod, who had started the season and was in goal for the final six matches when Albion only just survived dropping out of the league.
Rust had to play a waiting game as Ormerod continued as first choice at the start of the 1997-98 season. Unluckily for him, his chance of returning to the starting XI coincided with his partner having their first child. In November 1997, after only two wins in 15 matches, manager Steve Gritt was planning to rest Ormerod and reinstate Rust for an away game at Hull City.
But Rust’s pregnant partner went into labour and he dashed to be with her for the birth. Typically, Ormerod kept the first away clean sheet Albion had managed for TWENTY months and when he repeated the feat the following Saturday at Hartlepool, they were the first successive clean sheets since Rust’s run of five in March 1995!
Rust had to wait another fortnight, after Ormerod had been beaten twice in a defeat at home to Rotherham, before finally getting his chance to return to first-team duties.
Before long he demonstrated what he was capable of in a game close to home territory, at Peterborough United on 28 December 1997.
Albion were under severe pressure but held on for a 2-1 win and Gritt said: “We showed a great deal of fighting spirit and commitment to overcome their attacks and, on the day, had Nicky Rust in superb form to keep them out when they got through our last line of defence.”
The game was marred by young Darragh Ryan breaking a leg but Jeff Minton celebrated his 24th birthday by scoring Albion’s first goal and substitute Robbie Reinelt added Albion’s second – the first goal he’d scored since that all-important equaliser in the last game of the previous season at Hereford.
It came halfway through a run of 17 league games Rust played that season, the last of which (a 2-0 defeat at Exeter City) coincided with Gritt’s last game in charge.
New boss Brian Horton went with Ormerod and Rust had to watch on from the sidelines, although he did prove quite adept at offering his opinion on matches when drafted in as a summariser for South Coast Radio coverage of games.
The matchday programme noted he had been “doing an excellent job with his inside knowledge whilst, at the same time, earning the respect of his fellow players whose loved ones have been listening at home”.
While admitting he’d rather have been playing, Rust said he enjoyed the commentary banter. “His perception of the game and sense of humour have certainly come through on the air; they have received many favourable comments from listeners,” the programme noted.
However, disillusioned with life as an understudy, Rust chose to leave the Seagulls at the end of that season.
“I had got used to being No.1, but I wasn’t complacent and worked hard to get back in,” he told the Argus. “But it wasn’t the best of times for me.
“Brian Horton called me in one day and said: ‘You’re not in the team, how are you feeling?’ I said I thought I needed a new challenge. He told me not to rush into anything and I waited until the end of the season when I still felt the same way. It was very amicable.”
However, the grass definitely wasn’t greener on the other side. He spent pre-season with Orient but didn’t get taken on and moved to Barnet instead.
On his debut for Barnet, he picked the ball out the back of his net NINE times as the ‘keeper’s new club went down 9-1 at home to Peterborough, the cause not being helped by two Barnet players being sent off, one as early as the ninth minute.
After only two games for Barnet, Rust switched to Conference side Farnborough Town (where former Albion defender Wayne Stemp was playing at the time).
“The trouble was that the only contract Barnet could afford, because of limited finances, was just not enough,” Rust told the Argus. “It just wasn’t viable for me to sign it. I had a young family, my partner Clare, a childhood sweetheart by the way, and baby daughter Eloise to consider. Quite simply, the family came first. I wasn’t prepared to put them at risk by being selfish.” They later had a son, Harrison.
Rust chose to quit the full-time game and went on to run his own building business.
“A lot of goalkeepers go on forever but, in my case, I thought, at 24, that I ought to go out and get a proper job,” he said. “I don’t regret it for a moment.”
He went on to play non-league closer to home with Cambridge City and later helped out with once-a-week goalkeeper coaching.
Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, on 25 September 1974, his father Alistair was a policeman in Great Shelford, just south of Cambridge, and his mother Corinne ran her own curtain making business. Rust was one of five children: there were three brothers (James, Philip and Thomas) and a sister (Francesca).
From Swavesey Primary School he moved on to Sawston Village College and the promising youngster was chosen for the Cambridgeshire and East Anglia representative sides.
He then gained a place at the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall. Apart from McDougald, other contemporaries were Kevin Sharp and Jamie Forrester from Leeds United and Tottenham’s Sol Campbell, Danny Hill and Andy Turner.
Rust had trials at Tottenham and Luton Town, and Manchester United showed some interest, but he chose Arsenal as an associated schoolboy. It was the summer of 1991 when he joined them on a full-time basis as a YTS trainee.
The young ‘keeper played for England at under 15, under 16 and under 18 level and after joining the Albion was at one point put on standby for England under 21s.
FEW ALBION players of recent years divided opinion among supporters more than Ashley Barnes.
It might even surprise the sceptical to recall he scored 10 minutes into his Albion debut and his goalscoring ratio for Brighton was virtually a goal every three appearances (57 in 178 games) at League One and Championship level.
Any doubters about his ability were rather made to eat their words by virtue of him going on to play seven seasons in the Premier League with Burnley, scoring 42 of his 55 goals for the club at that level.
He became a cult hero for Clarets fans over nearly 10 years in Lancashire and began to create a similar aura at Norwich City, where he moved at the age of 33 on a two-year deal in the summer of 2023.
Barnes was only 20 when he joined the Seagulls, initially on loan, from Plymouth Argyle in March 2010. The Albion were the fifth side he’d been sent on loan to by the Pilgrims – he also had spells at Oxford United, Salisbury City, Eastbourne Borough and Torquay United.
Albion had a vacancy up front after the somewhat acrimonious departure of Nicky Forster to Charlton Athletic and Barnes scored within 10 minutes of his debut in a 3-0 Withdean win over Tranmere Rovers after he’d gone on as a sub for opening goalscorer Glenn Murray. Andrew Crofts scored Albion’s second.
After netting four goals in eight appearances by the end of the season, Barnes joined on a permanent basis.
“Ashley quickly adapted to our style of football last season,” said manager Gus Poyet. “He is strong and can score goals, and is the type of character we are looking for in a player. He will be a great addition to the squad.”
Barnes added: “I loved every minute of my loan spell last season, and was desperate to come back.
“Working with Gus and the other coaches was unbelievable. They really improved my game, as well as helping me with the mental side, and I can’t wait to get started now.”
In his first full season at the club, he found the net 20 times to help the Seagulls clinch the League One championship.
Indeed, it was he who went on from the bench and netted the decider as Albion sealed promotion with a 4-3 win over Dagenham & Redbridge.
At the time, he described it as the highlight of his career, and told the Western Daily Press: “It’s fantastic to get promoted and a brilliant thing to have on your CV.
“You couldn’t have scripted it better, to come off the bench and score the winner to get us promoted.
“My future ambition is to play in the Premiership. If it could be with Brighton that would be brilliant.”
After promotion was won, previous strike partners Chris Wood (returning to parent club WBA) and Glenn Murray (transferred to Crystal Palace) left the club.
It meant Barnes having to strike up a new understanding with Craig Mackail-Smith, with Will Hoskins also providing competition up front.
“For the start of the season it was Macca and me playing together and it just clicked straight away in pre-season,” he said. “We’ve had a fantastic partnership ever since.”
Barnes had previously played at Championship level for Plymouth, but he admitted in a matchday programme interview: “Back then I was very raw and inexperienced, whereas now I feel physically and mentally more ready for this level.
“I’ve gone away, learned a lot about the game, and I’ve come back in a better position to give it another go in this league.”
It was possibly the fact Barnes was asked to play in different positions for Albion that meant some didn’t appreciate him.
In one of several programme interviews, he said: “I’ve played up front, I’ve played on the left, on the right, as part of three in midfield and just behind the strikers, all sorts.
“My natural position is up top but I’ve really enjoyed playing these different roles and I’m learning all the time.
“As a striker you are judged on your goals but people need to see that I’m helping the team out in different positions now.”
There were other occasions when fans were left scratching their heads about Barnes; like the time in a post-match interview after a cup win he said how important it had been to get the three points!
Then, of course, there was the occasion at Bolton – which I witnessed from behind the goal – in March 2013 when the aggrieved Barnes (believing he should have been awarded a penalty) chased after referee Nigel Miller and deliberately tripped him up.
Not surprisingly, he was instantly shown a red card and the football authorities took a dim view of such a petulant act that he was subsequently handed a seven-game ban.
Barnes was hammered in the press and by fans but on his return he scored twice as Albion thumped Blackpool 6-1 and earned the man of the match award.
“I was so hungry to get back after being out of the team for so long, and I think that showed in my performance,” he said. “The frustration of being sidelined was finally released and I could just get out on that pitch and prove to everyone why I’m here and what I’m about.
“I’d trained hard while I was suspended, and trained as if I was playing on a matchday, and I think that helped me because I was still sharp.”
Having tasted the success of promotion from League One with the Seagulls and the disappointment of two near-misses in the Championship play-off losses of 2012 and 2013, it was in the January 2014 transfer window (with only six months left on his Albion contract) that Barnes was snapped up by promotion-seeking Burnley.
Nevertheless, he reflected on his time at Brighton in an interview with Tyrone Marshall of the Lancashire Telegraph, and said: “It was fantastic, I loved every minute there.”
Meanwhile, boss Sean Dyche said on signing him: “Ashley is a robust, hard-working centre-forward with an eye for goal.”
Dyche had Sam Vokes and Danny Ings leading the line in their bid for promotion, but he said: “I can assure you Ashley is not here just to supplement the group and support the front two, but to make sure we have a real challenge up front.
“He has a will and desire to improve and affect football matches, as strikers do by scoring goals.”
Five months after his move to Turf Moor, he was celebrating promotion to the Premier League having scored three in 11 starts plus 10 sub appearances.
Looking back on his time with the Clarets in August 2019, Reuben Pinder wrote an appreciation of Barnes for joe.co.uk.
“Despite incomings, from Andre Gray to Jon Walters, Peter Crouch and now Jay Rodriguez, he has remained a constant in Burnley’s front line ever since their promotion in 2014 – and subsequent relegation a year later,” he wrote.
“He provides the energy, solidity, graft and guile necessary for a team of Burnley’s style and stature to survive in such a cut-throat league.
“A powerful yet nimble dribbler, and a battering ram in the air, he possesses a skillset that is becoming increasingly rare at the top level. He’s the Bath Benzema. The Burnley Bergkamp.”
Pinder continued: “Barnes is not the most glamorous of players and that’s fine – he is all the more charming for it. This is a man who played non-league football while he was still at school, giving most of his income to his parents.
“This is a man who drives seven of his teammates to training in a minibus they all chipped in for. This is a man of the people who made it to the top the hard way, and on that journey developed a sharp edge that often comes to the fore in the heat of the moment.”
Born in Bath on 30 October 1989, Barnes grew up in the village of Dunkerton, five miles south west of the city, and went to the nearby Writhlington School at Radstock. A goalkeeper until he was 14, he declared himself a Man Utd fan at the time because they had Peter Schmeichel in goal.
As a youngster, Barnes played for Bath Arsenal alongside Scott Sinclair, the former Chelsea, Swansea and Celtic winger.
He was on the books at Bristol Rovers as a kid but was released when the club ran into financial difficulties. He played for Welton Arsenal and Welton Rovers under 18s before being snapped up by Southern League Paulton Rovers.
As a youth player at Paulton, he started in central midfield and, when he made the first team at 16, he moved up front. His goalscoring exploits there caught the attention of Ian Holloway, who signed him for Argyle in 2007.
In a 2011 Western Daily Press article, Barnes said he was still regularly in contact with former Rovers boss Andrew Jones and looked back with fond memories at his time at Winterfield Road.
“It was brilliant at Paulton, they were good times,” he said. “I had a fantastic time with the manager Andrew Jones, he was great to me. I still speak to him at least once every week and I get on really well with him.
“To leave Paulton was obviously a bit disheartening but to go from there to a Football League club was amazing.”
A young Barnes scoring for Plymouth
Forever grateful to ‘Ollie’ for giving him his break at Plymouth, he said: “His madness is not an act, that’s how he is every day in training; a crazy man, and everyone loves him for it. He gets his players playing for him because of that.”
Barnes also famously played one game for Austria under 20s, qualifying because his grandmother was from the country.
After scoring seven times in 26 appearances (plus 19 off the bench) as Burnley returned to the Premier League as Championship champions in May 2023, Barnes left Turf Moor to join Championship side Norwich City.
Head coach David Wagner said: “We’re delighted to welcome Ashley to the club. He is a player I’ve come across on a number of occasions and he knows exactly what it takes to be successful in this league.
“It was very clear from our conversations that he has a real hunger and desire to continue to perform at the highest level. It was a feeling that we both have, the determination to do whatever it takes to win football games.
“There was a lot of competition for his signature, which says a lot about how he is respected and valued in the game.”
In a September 2023 interview with Samuel Seaman in the Norwich Pink Un, Barnes said: “You know you’ll get 110 per cent from me, putting in a shift every game. That’s what I’ll try to do. Once I do that, I can go out there, create something for the team, be a force to be reckoned with.
“Work rate is one, that’s first and foremost. Every player in this changing room, the boss, us older ones, that’s what we have to instil, that demand we have on each other.
“We’re all fighting in this together to get out of this league, that’s something that we want to do.”
Always wanting to connect with supporters, Barnes began building a rapport with Canaries fans by impressing at a fans’ forum event in the city shortly after signing.
“They’ve been tremendous,” he said. “A huge amount of credit to them for making me feel so welcome straight away, making me feel loved.”
Unfortunately, injury deprived Norwich of Barnes’ services for several weeks after he’d played in each of the team’s first seven league games, when they earned 16 points from a possible 21.
And after scoring seven goals in 49 appearances for the Canaries, in January 2025, Barnes, by then 35, rejoined Burnley, hoping to add to the 67 goals in 293 appearances he scored for them between 2014 and 2023,
“It feels fantastic to be back home! Burnley has been a massive part of my life for over a decade, and I can’t wait to pull on the Claret shirt again,” he told the club’s website.
MUCH-MALIGNED Mark McCammon was not afraid to stand his ground, answer his critics directly and to challenge injustice when he felt aggrieved.
Fans of Brentford, Brighton and Millwall voiced some strident – nay, downright offensive – opinions of his ability as a footballer.
Remarkably, the Barnet-born striker played in a FA Cup final and Europe for the Lions before Mark McGhee signed him a second time – for Brighton – having previously taken him to Millwall from the Bees on transfer deadline day in 2003.
McCammon and Neil Harris at the 2004 FA Cup Final in Cardiff
When his suitability to contribute to the Seagulls’ flagging cause in the Championship was called into question in a post-match radio phone-in, McCammon took umbrage and called the show himself to argue the toss with presenter Ian Hart.
Also, in what was something of a landmark case, McCammon took a subsequent employer, Gillingham FC, to courtand won a claim that he had been racially victimised.
It certainly wasn’t uncommon for McCammon to be at odds with the people running whichever club he was playing for.
He first joined the Seagulls on loan when he was out of favour and on the transfer list at Millwall.
He made his debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Stoke City in December 2004 and said: “I just want to get back playing and enjoying my football again.
“I have been in and out at Millwall and my fitness has dipped a little bit because I haven’t played. I’m happy to be playing under Mark again and I want to show what I can do.”
Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet in five matches, when McGhee made it a permanent move in February 2005 he told BBC Southern Counties Radio: “Not everyone understands the contribution Mark makes. We have become a much more effective team with him in the squad.”
McGhee was a great believer in the ‘one big one, one little one’ striking line-up, and was sure McCammon’s presence would help pint-sized Leon Knight to score goals.
Because of what followed, it is easy to forget McCammon scored three goals in his first two home games after signing on a permanent basis.
He scored a brace and won the man of the match award in a 3-2 defeat to Derby County and he got 10-man Albion’s second in a surprise 2-1 win over promotion-chasing Sunderland (Richard Carpenter scored the other, and Rami Shabaan made his debut in goal).
The Argus enjoyed building up the visit of McCammon’s old side Millwall to the Withdean, interviewing the player and the manager, who we learned called his new signing ‘The Fridge’.
McGhee urged McCammon to stay cool if he managed to score against his old club, but it was fellow striker Gary Hart who got the only goal of the game, in the 89th minute.
Ahead of the game, McCammon told the newspaper: “It would mean a lot to me to score the winning goal against them. I wasn’t given a chance there, but I’ve got a fresh start here. I’ve got a lot to prove.”
In the following game, he was subbed off at half-time in a 2-0 defeat at Stoke when he gave away a penalty. He underwent blood tests and McGhee said: “Mark is seeing a specialist to find out why he was feeling lethargic. It wasn’t the back injury he suffered against Millwall, he was just feeling ill and weak.”
That game was the first of a run of six defeats and Albion only won once in 11 matches – form which saw them avoid relegation by a single point.
One of several infamous McCammon incidents occurred following the Seagulls’ 1-1 draw at Turf Moor on 16 April.
After a lucklustre first half display when Albion went in 1-0 down, McGhee ripped into the team at half-time and McCammon and fellow striker Chris McPhee were told they weren’t holding the ball up well enough.
According to an account in the Daily Telegraph, McCammon argued back in a fiery exchange with the boss, claiming a lack of service from midfield was the issue. He didn’t reappear for the second half, being replaced by fired-up teenager Jake Robinson and Albion managed to salvage a point courtesy of an equaliser from Dean Hammond.
A delighted McGhee said of Robinson: “We say when people get their chance they have to take it and I thought he took it absolutely brilliantly. He was different class.”
But McGhee’s ire with McCammon hadn’t cooled at the final whistle – he ordered him off the team bus and told him to return south in the kit-carrying vehicle instead.
Not fancying a tight squeeze alongside sweaty shirts, shorts and socks, McCammon chose to return by train.
“After the match I told him I didn’t want him travelling back on the team bus with the rest of us and that he was to return home with two other members of staff in another club vehicle,” McGhee told Sky Sports News.
McCammon apologised to McGhee afterwards but any subsequent first team opportunities were few and far between after that.
At the start of the 2005-06 season, he managed a recall for a Carling Cup match away to Shrewsbury Town and pleased his manager by scoring a goal and laying one on for Robinson, even though the Albion went down 3-2.
“I thought Mark was much better. That type of performance is what we expect of him and it’s what he can do,” said McGhee. “Now he’s got to reproduce that in the Championship.
“He set his standard tonight in terms of his effort and the simple way he played the game. He didn’t complicate things; he laid it off, held it up, laid it off, then got in the box; he won a lot of headers; took a lot of stick and kept going. He got a goal, made a goal and I thought he was terrific.”
But McGhee, with other forward options in the shape of Colin Kazim-Richards, Robinson, Knight and Gary Hart only called on McCammon for three starts and five sub appearances.
“He (McGhee) asked me to go out on loan to a lower league team and I think I’m better than that,” said McCammon when, incensed by criticism of him on the BBC Southern Counties Radio post-match phone-in after a game in February, called in and took issue with show host Hart.
“I went on trial at Watford and I got called back to train for no apparent reason. I think I was hard done by there, a bit unlucky. I’m back but I’m not in the squad but I don’t think I’ve been given a long enough chance.”
Once again suggesting the team’s issue was service through to the front players, he responded to Hart’s personal criticism of him saying: “When you kick a ball in professional football you can tell me whether I’m good enough for this standard.
“You don’t know anything about me. What you said is very disrespectful.
“I’ve been out since the beginning of the season with ankle and knee injuries. I had surgery on both. I came back and made three first-team starts but it takes about seven or eight games to get your rhythm back. I think it’s a bad comment you have made.”
The striker also took aim at the Withdean faithful, claiming: “All we hear is supporters whingeing.
“If they get behind the team it will give the players an extra boost. All the first team players at Brighton listen to the radio and they hear the supporters being 100 per cent negative.
“It’s a team game, it’s not about individuals. The supporters need to get behind the team a bit more.”
If the player didn’t think much of the fans, it would be an understatement to say they were none too impressed by the player.
Amongst a veritable litany of abuse from Albion supporters, this from ‘The Full Harris’ on North Stand Chat encapsulated the opinions of many.
“Mark McCammon is the worst player to have played for us in this division … he just simply doesn’t have a clue. He is unfit, he doesn’t know where he is meant to be running, he can’t shoot. For a man of his size, he is pathetic in the air.
“He is clumsy, he has the touch and control of a Sunday league centre half, he is about as prolific as an impotent monk, he is an embarrassment, he is a disgrace, he is lazy and, personally, I object in the extreme to my paying his wages when I believe many of the crowd around me could do a better job and they would do it for free.”
Long before Dominic Cummings referred to his erstwhile boss, Boris Johnson as “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”, supporters voiced something similar of McCammon. The song went like this:
Super, super Mark Super, super Mark Super, super Mark Supermarket Trolley.
Perhaps it was no surprise that McCammon was allowed to leave Albion on loan, linking up with League One Bristol City, where he scored four goals in 11 appearances.
He didn’t play another game for the Albion and, in the summer of 2006, joined Doncaster Rovers after impressing boss Dave Penney on trial.
Although born in Barnet on 7 August 1978, McCammon qualified to play for Barbados through his mother and he won five caps for the Caribbean country. He scored on his debut against Antigua and Barbuda in a 3-1 win in September 2006 and two days later hit a hat-trick when Barbados beat Anguilla 7-1.
Two years later he returned to international action for two World Cup qualifiers against the United States. Barbados lost 8-0 in California and 1-0 in Bridgetown.
McCammon was with QPR as a teenager but it was Cambridge United who took him on as a YTS and he joined Cambridge City on loan at 19 to gain experience.
He played just six games for United between 1997 and March 1999 but was signed by Premier League Charlton, managed by Alan Curbishley.
After relegation to the old First Division, McCammon played five times for the Addicks as they won the title with a squad that included John Robinson, Steve Brown and Paul Kitson on loan from West Ham. McCammon also spent time on loan at Swindon Town in January 2000.
That summer, McCammon left The Valley to sign for Second Division Brentford for a fee said to be £100,000. He scored six times in 33 appearances in his first season at Griffin Park. He scored 10 in a total of 75 appearances for the Bees but it seems their supporters were also unconvinced about his merits.
Stan Webb, on the excellent BFCTalk website, said: “Mark McCammon was yet another misfit who cost a significant fee. Despite looking every inch a footballer, he signally failed to deliver.
“He is best remembered for his cataclysmic miss from a free header at Loftus Road which might have changed our recent history had he scored, as he surely should have done.
“And yet for all the criticism he faced, he eventually became a sort of anti-hero as fans recognised that he was always giving everything he had and appreciated his efforts even though he was just not up to scratch.”
By contrast, McCammon’s time in south Yorkshire was relatively successful, although if he felt he was dogged by bad luck, in November 2006 he had a headed goal away to Brentford chalked off after the ref didn’t notice the ball went through a hole in the back of the net. Thankfully Donny still won 1‑0.
Across two seasons, he scored 13 goals in 70 matches for the south Yorkshire side and went on as a 71st minute sub for Richie Wellens in the 2008 League One play-off final at Wembley when Donny beat Leeds United 1-0. Leeds had Casper Ankergren in goal and Bradley Johnson in their line-up.
However, McCammon chose to head south that summer and signed a three-year contract with recently relegated League Two Gillingham.
He scored five goals in 35 matches in his first season at Priestfield but 2009-10, when the Gills were back in League One, was a different story.
By February 2010, a lack of starts saw him seek a loan to get some match fitness. Gills boss Mark Stimson told BBC Radio Kent: “Going out on loan will be good for him and the club. He needs games and if he comes back fit in four weeks that would be great.”
He added: “We want him sharp and scoring goals then he could come back because we might need someone like him. Last season he stepped in and put in a good shift.
“At the moment he’s frustrated, like all the other boys who are not playing. He didn’t want to drop down to League Two. Now he’s seriously thinking about it because it might get his career back on track.”
McCammon joined Bradford City for a month, playing four games, before returning to the Gills. But the following season, when Andy Hessenthaler had returned as manager, saw the final dismantling of McCammon’s league playing career.
The club dismissed him in 2011 for alleged misconduct but he didn’t go quietly and took them to an employment tribunal claiming he had been unfairly sacked and ‘racially victimised’. He won £68,000 in compensation and Gillingham and chairman Paul Scally were subsequently each fined £75,000 by the FA “for failing to act in the best interests of the game and bringing the game into disrepute”.
Furious Scally appealed the fines, which were set by an independent regulatory commission, saying they were “manifestly excessive, totally disproportionate and completely unjust” and, although the board reduced the club’s fine to £50,000, the sanction against Scally was upheld.
McCammon told the original hearing in Ashford, Kent, that he and other black players at the club were treated differently from white players. For example, he said, he was ordered to attend the ground amid ‘treacherous’ snowy driving conditions or be fined, while some white players were told they were not required.
The club tried to “frustrate him out” by refusing to pay private medical bills for injury treatment, while a white teammate had been flown to Dubai for treatment at the club’s expense, he claimed.
McCammon, who, on £2,500 a week, was the club’s highest-paid player, was also told not to blog while others were permitted to, he said. During an injury spell, he had to stay behind at the club for four hours longer than other injured and non-injured players, he claimed.
The tribunal heard he was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing following a confrontation in which he accused club officials of being “racially intolerant” regarding the decision to order him in during the heavy snow.
The tribunal found in McCammon’s favour and his solicitor, Sim Owalabi, said it was believed to be the first time a footballer had successfully brought before an employment tribunal a case of race victimisation against a professional football club.
After all the legal to-ing and fro-ing, the player himself, by then aged 35, said: “It was traumatising and it sort of sabotaged my career in the football world, my progress.
“I had football clubs after me and that just deteriorated. It’s very, very unfortunate.”
He dropped down to Conference level with Braintree Town in October 2011 and later played for Lincoln City, on loan and then on a permanent basis, when they were in the same division.
IZZY BROWN was just 20 when he joined Albion on a season-long loan from Chelsea hoping to prove his worth as a Premier League striker.
Sadly, a serious anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury meant that ambition was thwarted after only four starts and eight appearances off the bench.
Then, at the age of 26, a twice-ruptured Achilles tendon forced him to quit the game altogether.
Brown’s ascent to the elite level of English football was rapid. He was only 16 when he made his debut for West Bromwich Albion, becoming the second-youngest player in Premier League history when he went on for the Baggies towards the end of a 3-2 defeat against Wigan in May 2013.
Two months later, Chelsea offered him five times more than West Brom were paying him and he switched to Stamford Bridge to join their scholarship scheme.
The financial cushion they gave him at such a tender age meant retiring from the game early came as less of a blow than it might have done.
“I’m thankful to Chelsea for everything they’ve ever done for me because if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what my life would be like now,” Brown told Nancy Froston in an exclusive April 2023 interview with The Athletic.
“They put me in a position where, while it’s not that I don’t ever want to work again, it has set me up to provide for my family for quite a few years.”
Brown spent eight years as a Chelsea player although Brighton were the fourth of seven clubs he joined on loan over that period.
Although he scored twice on his Chelsea debut in a 5-0 pre-season friendly win over Wycombe Wanderers, he made only one competitive first team appearance and that was as a sub against his old club, West Brom, in May 2015. Chelsea lost 3-0 and Brown saw only 11 minutes of action when Jose Mourinho sent him on to replace Loic Remy.
Brown had previously been an unused sub on several occasions in the second half of the 2014-15 season, but that summer he was sent on loan to Vitesse Arnhem where he registered just the one goal in 24 appearances.
In the 2016-17 season, Brown had two loans in Yorkshire: scoring three in 20 matches for Rotherham United and then five in 21 for their fellow Championship side Huddersfield Town.
He was involved in the Terriers’ Championship play-off final win over Reading and there were reports they wanted to make his move permanent, with a fee of £8m mentioned.
But Brown thought it wasn’t the right move for him, still harbouring hopes of making it at Chelsea. “I’m still learning and I feel Brighton is the place for me to develop further,” he said.
“There were plenty of clubs calling my agent but Brighton was always my number one choice,” he told the matchday programme. He explained he wanted to learn from manager Chris Hughton, adding: “The facilities here and the ambition of the club was also important for me.”
Hughton said of the youngster: “He’s a very flexible forward player. We brought him in very much as a (number) ten, where he had played for Huddersfield last season.
“In his first loan at Rotherham he played very much off the front, went abroad played off the left, and in his first game for us and in pre-season was on the left. He has that versatility in his game.”
That first league game was the opening day defeat at home to Manchester City and he went off injured (replaced by Jamie Murphy) as Albion went down 2-0. He didn’t re-appear until 1 October away to Arsenal when he struggled as an orthodox striker in another 2-0 defeat.
Thereafter, he only made two more league starts – the 5-1 home battering by Liverpool and a 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield.
Although Crystal Palace in the third round of the FA Cup on 8 January gave him a chance to show what he could do from the start, the game was only six minutes old when he was forced off with the knee injury that brought his time with Albion to a close.
Hughton saw it as a big blow because he had been planning to make much more use of the young striker in the second half of the season.
“You would have seen him much more involved,” he said. “He’d had a slight hamstring injury when he first came which kept him out for a few weeks.
“But certainly I would have seen him play in more games than perhaps in that first half,” said Hughton.
“He is a very popular player here. Before he’d come here, he’d had a couple of other loans and I think that adapted him well going into a new environment.”
Brown himself had said the only player he knew before his arrival was Connor Goldson through his friendship with Jonny Taylor, who Brown had played with at Rotherham.
Deprived of Brown’s services, Hughton brought in Jurgen Locadia from PSV Eindhoven and a familiar face in Leonardo Ulloa, returning to the Amex on loan from Leicester City.
Although both were on the scoresheet when Albion dispensed with Coventry City in the fifth round of the FA Cup, it would probably be fair to say neither were a rip-roaring success. The combination of Glenn Murray and Pascal Gross were the main goal contributors.
Born in Peterborough on 7 January 1997, Isaiah Brown, to give him his proper name, said in an emotional open letter on his retirement: “As soon as I could walk, I always had a football at my feet. That was me, that was my happy place.”
He was talented enough to represent England at under 16, under 17, under 19 and under 20 levels, winning a total of 34 caps.
At Chelsea, he was in the side that won the Under-21 Premier League title in 2013-14 and the UEFA Youth League the following season.
After the disappointment of his time at Brighton being curtailed, he was still recovering in August 2018 when he went back to Yorkshire on loan to Championship Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa.
But once recovered, he was mainly involved in United’s under 21 side. He only made two substitute appearances for the first team, one in a 1-0 league defeat at QPR and one in the end-of-season play-off final that Leeds lost 4-3 on aggregate to Derby.
The following season once again saw him head out on loan for a season, this time to Luton Town. He scored once in 19 starts, plus nine games as a sub, as the Hatters narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship.
The 2020-21 season once again saw Brown heading to Yorkshire, this time with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.
It was a season that saw the club have three full-time managers and a caretaker, finishing bottom of the league and relegated to League One. Brown made only five starts plus 16 appearances off the bench.
With his contract at Chelsea finally coming to an end, his next move was a permanent switch away from the Bridge, and he signed a one-year deal with Preston North End.
Head coach Frankie McAvoy said: “He’s got good pedigree. He’s got great experience in terms of playing in the Championship and an ex-Chelsea player from a young age.
“He’s had quite a few loans over his time, some he’s done well, others maybe latterly not done as well as he hoped, so he just needs to find that self-belief again and confidence. But we’re certainly getting a player with undoubted talent, very offensive and we’re looking forward to working with him.
“He can play across the front, but probably his preferred position is a ten behind a striker or two, depending on how we play.
“He can also play in pockets off right and left, so he adds that bit of versatility to our front players and I think if we can get him up and running, believing in himself, being confident in his own ability then I’m sure he’ll endear himself to the Preston faithful.”
Brown, by then 24, said: “Now I’m getting to that age where I want to develop myself as a player and hopefully be a legend at a club, and I really feel like Preston’s a place where I could do that.”
But less than a month after signing for North End, he ruptured an Achilles during pre-season training – and he never actually played a competitive game for Preston.
“We had a pre-season game against Celtic when I was at Preston and I felt some pain in my Achilles, but it wasn’t too bad,” Brown told Froston. “Then we had a couple of days off, I came back for training and then I just passed the football, like I’d done a million times before, and I heard a pop. I thought someone had kicked me but no one was around me.
“It had snapped. So I had the surgery and it went well, but we noticed there was like a little gap in my Achilles.
“We thought maybe it’s not healed properly, but this was only after two months so we gave it time. Then I went out for some dinner and stepped down a small step and it snapped again.
“So I had two Achilles surgeries in the space of three and a half months. To come back from one is hard. To come back from two is basically impossible.”
On top of those football injuries, he got sick with hand, foot and mouth disease, then had an issue with his nervous system that led to muscle loss and affected the nerves in his feet.
He was subsequently told he had a rare and serious condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome and it was apparent he would have to retire from playing football.
In a revealing interview with Froston, he concluded: “Football was my dream. It still is my dream. But dreams have to end one day.”
In the open letter he wrote on his retirement, he said: “Football doesn’t define me as a person. I’m a father, a son, a brother and a friend, and I will be that after football.
“I’ve lived my dream and memories that will stay with me forever. To every club that I have played for, I really appreciate you all for believing in me and giving me a chance to play the game I love.”
CHARLIE OATWAY’S colourful life story has often appeared in the media and he now uses it to try to persuade wayward youngsters back onto the straight and narrow.
Brighton supporters of a certain vintage will remember a promotion-winning tenacious midfielder and captain who went on to be a coach at the club (see my 2018 blog post).
How he turned his life round was the subject of a book, Tackling Life, and, after injury brought a premature end to his professional playing career, he initially worked in the Albion in the Community scheme alongside former teammates Guy Butters and Danny Cullip.
He became first team coach under Gus Poyet in 2009 and followed the Uruguayan and assistant manager Mauricio Taricco to Sunderland, AEK Athens, Real Betis and Shanghai Shenua.
But he didn’t follow Poyet to French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, popping up instead to help out his former Albion in the Community mentor, Dr Alan Sanders, who had become director of education, sport and health for Charlton Athletic Community Trust.
It was Sanders who Oatway had first turned to for advice at Brighton at the age of 30, subsequently going on to enrol on an adult literacy course to help with reading and writing.
At Charlton, Oatway delivered football courses for the community scheme, and shared his experiences with schoolchildren in south east London.
Sanders subsequently became chief executive at the Russell Martin Foundation, and Oatway joined as a relationships manager. Adopting the title of his book, Oatway’s Tackling Life programme aims to try to return to education young people between 11 and 14 who have dropped out of the system.
Dyslexic Oatway had a troubled childhood growing up in Shepherd’s Bush in a family where criminality was commonplace, and he didn’t attend school from the age of 14. He told the Safeguarding and Child Protection Association: “A lot of these kids are going through what I went through.
“They get to know me and my background. The things I’ve done, the things I haven’t done and then I can start to get through to them a bit.”
An integral part of the foundation’s offer, Oatway shares his personal experiences and imparts invaluable life lessons via interactive sessions, workshops, and mentoring, Topics he covers include resilience, self-belief, teamwork, and making responsible choices.
“The kids we deal with, any sort of authority, such as police or social workers, teachers, headmasters etc, they don’t tend to engage with. I try to break that down for them.”
The Southampton manager’s foundation works with 30 schools across Sussex, including all 10 secondary schools in Brighton and Hove, to build the confidence and skills of young people struggling with mainstream education.
“I get sworn at less by the kids than I used to by Gus,” said Oatway, who nonetheless always spoke highly of Poyet when standing in for the boss on occasional media duties.
For example, under scrutiny at Premier League Sunderland, Oatway responded angrily to criticism from former Black Cats chairman Niall Quinn, telling the Daily Express: “Gus works so hard on a daily basis. Even if he chooses to part company with me tomorrow, I’d still say the same about him.
“We all know how tough this job was when we got here, but the players and the gaffer have managed to do it, so he deserves a pat on the back and a little more respect.”
Sunderland successfully avoided relegation under Poyet and during the battle Oatway gave a typical rallying call: “Life’s a fight. You either stand up and be counted in everything that you do or you sink.”
ARRON DAVIES moved to Nottingham Forest two months after scoring twice against them to shatter their chances of promotion via the League One play-offs.
Davies was in the Yeovil side, managed by Russell Slade, that beat Forest 5-2 in the first leg of their play-off semi-final in 2007 and edged the tie 5-4 on aggregate before losing to Blackpool in the final.
Liking what he saw in the opponents’ line-up, Forest boss Colin Calderwood, later Albion assistant manager to Chris Hughton, promptly signed Davies and his Glovers teammate Chris Cohen for £1.2m.
But a freak leg-break in a pre-season game in Scotland dealt Davies a massive blow and he was mainly on the fringes as Forest made up for the previous season’s disappointment by winning promotion in second place.
While he made ten starts, plus 12 appearances off the bench, Cohen, was a regular in the Forest midfield and became a fans’ favourite.
When Davies only featured in two Carling Cup games for Forest at the start of the 2009-10 season, his old boss, Slade, took him on a half-season loan to League One Brighton.
It wasn’t a completely strange dressing room for him to join; Forest teammate Matt Thornhill was already on loan, having joined as part of the deal that saw Albion defender Joel Lynch move to the City Ground.
He also knew Craig Davies and Andrew Crofts from involvement in the Wales under 21 team for who he won 14 caps and was made captain by Brian Flynn. In 2006, manager John Toshack gave him his solitary full cap for his country, aged just 17, going on as a sub (as did Davies and Crofts) in a 2-1 friendly win over Trinidad and Tobago. It was the match that marked his close friend (and fellow Southampton teenager) Gareth Bale’s debut as Wales’ youngest ever full international at the age of 16 years and 315 days.
On clinching his former player’s signing for the Albion, Slade told the Albion website: “Arron can play on either wing or as an attacking midfielder. He is a player I know very well from my time at Yeovil and I expect him to be a very good acquisition for the club.”
Davies was effectively a straight replacement for winger Mark Wright, who’d joined as a free agent that summer but failed to settle and was sold to Bristol Rovers after only two games.
He told the matchday programme: “Russell is a very good manager. I played under him for one season at Yeovil and we had a very good year that year as he led us to the play-off final.
“That was my most enjoyable year in football. It was a great season for me, getting to Wembley, and eventually getting a move to Nottingham Forest. He did a lot for me and hopefully I can repay him this time round.
“I have played the majority of my career at this level, in this league, and I know what it is all about. I have won promotion with Nottingham Forest and came very close with Yeovil, so I know what it takes.”
In the absence of Dean Cox through injury, Davies made eight starts for the Seagulls, but he was subbed off in seven of the games (Albion only won three of them).
When the 3-3 draw at home to Hartlepool signalled the end of Slade’s reign, it also marked the last game Davies played in the stripes. Unfortunately for him, new boss Gus Poyet preferred alternative options.
Born in Cardiff on 22 June 1984, Davies was brought up in the delightfully named Llantwit Major. He spent four years in Cardiff City’s youth set up but moved to Southampton in 1997 and eventually broke through to become a regular in their reserves during the 2002-03 season.
He had a sniff of involvement in the 2003 FA Cup final when Saints played Arsenal in Cardiff but manager Gordon Strachan didn’t select him in the matchday squad. He subsequently travelled to Bucharest where Saints played in a UEFA Cup tie but again didn’t play.
“I was fairly close to Gordon,” Davies told walesonline.co.uk in December 2018. “He made me travel with the first team and got me involved with training daily. He put me on the bench and spoke to me quite a bit.
“He liked the way I played football and he believed in me.”
He had a brief loan spell with Barnsley in February 2004, where he played four matches, but, on the day Harry Redknapp replaced Strachan as Saints manager, the youngster was released.
“They were a Premier League club at the time and I got close,” he said. “Obviously, though, it wasn’t close enough. I just decided to leave and then that year they got relegated.
“If I’d stayed, perhaps with hindsight I would have played a bit more in the Championship the year after.
“But it was the best decision I made as I had to go out and get first team football. From there, at Yeovil, that’s where my career really started.”
Davies joined Yeovil on a free transfer and went on to score 27 goals in 115 matches over the next three years.
If the move to Forest looked promising, a freak injury during a pre-season game at Motherwell changed everything.
A nudge knocked him off balance and he stumbled on his leg, causing a spiral fracture and a chip on the bone – rather than a clean break – which made it more difficult to fix.
“That was a massive setback,” he told BBC Radio Nottingham. Although he recovered to make his debut in October 2007, his three years in the East Midlands were blighted by injury. He played just 40 games for the Reds. “I couldn’t really get fit,” he said. “I couldn’t get a run of games, I couldn’t get a run of form going. I still have ongoing issues, it is mainly in my calf.
“Obviously if I could turn back time, I would have to miss the game away at Motherwell and not get injured. It’s pretty sad that it didn’t work out. I was pretty gutted about that. If I hadn’t have got injured it would have been a different story.”
When managerial change meant things didn’t work out for him at Brighton, he returned to Yeovil on loan, making a further 10 appearances.
In the summer of 2010, another former Yeovil boss, Gary Johnson, signed him for Peterborough United but after playing 28 games for Posh, Johnson’s successor, Darren Ferguson dispensed with his services.
Next stop was Northampton Town, signed for a third time by Johnson, who had become manager of the Cobblers. He played 19 times and scored four goals for Town, his best return for five years. But, in what was becoming a familiar pattern, when Johnson left, Davies found opportunities limited under successor Aidy Boothroyd.
He joined League Two Exeter City in the summer of 2012, with their manager Paul Tisdale telling BBC Sport: “It’s a good opportunity for him and I think he’s the right type of player to fit in with us. He’s an attack-minded player and I had to find some attack-minded players to fit into the squad.”
Tisdale saw it as a chance for Davies to resurrect his career, and over the course of four seasons he played more matches (148) than he’d played for any of his previous clubs, adding a further 10 goals to his career tally.
By 2016, Exeter couldn’t afford to give him a new contract and, ironically, he scored against them for new club Accrington Stanley in a 2-1 defeat at home to the Grecians in August 2016. However, it was his only goal in 10 appearances for Accrington before he retired.
After his playing days were over, he became an agent. “Throughout my time as a player people sort of gauged my advice on things and came to me, so I leaned towards that and did my badges as well,” he told walesonline.
“Even when I was playing League Two football I had friends in the Premier League that were ringing me and asking for advice.
“It was something I always liked doing, so I’m doing it full-time. It’s enjoyable, it’s demanding and it keeps me in football and I can’t ever picture not being involved in football.”
Davies told devonlive.com: “I did look into coaching, I’ve done a few of my badges, but the agent side of it really hooked me in.
“There’s no limits on it, you can be as good as you want, so I’m out, trying to work as hard as I possibly can.”
RUSSELL SLADE had an eye for picking up footballing gems for nothing and he worked an unlikely miracle to spare relegation-bound Albion from the drop.
The one-time PE teacher who never played professional football himself was only Brighton manager for eight months but keeping them in League One in an end-of-season nailbiter was a much-lauded achievement.
He did it with some astute forays into the loan market and snapping up free agent Lloyd Owusu who made a crucial contribution to Albion’s injury-hit misfiring forward line.
Some years earlier, when youth team manager at Sheffield United, Slade famously picked up three young players – Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – discarded by other clubs who went on to become Blades stalwarts.
At Brighton, his summer re-shaping of the squad he inherited put down the foundations on which his successor Gus Poyet was able to build a successful side capable of promotion.
In particular, Slade took great pride in bringing Andrew Crofts to the Albion on a free transfer from Gillingham, the club later selling him on to Norwich City for what was believed to be £300,000.
Slade signing Elliott Bennett, bought from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000, was later sold to the Canaries for a fee believed to be £1.5million.
“The majority of my player signings went on to play crucial roles in this promotion season,” Slade asserts on his LinkedIn profile. “During my closed season I began what proved to be an extremely successful transitional period.”
If Slade had failed to keep Albion up at the end of that 2008-09 season, it is doubtful Poyet would have been drawn to the task of lifting the side through the leagues and possibly there would have been a longer wait to see Championship football at the Amex.
Slade’s tenure at the Albion may well have been longer if Tony Bloom hadn’t taken over control of the club from Dick Knight, who was chairman at the time Slade was brought in to replace Micky Adams.
Adams reckoned he was a victim of the power struggle between the two and it seems clear that Bloom wanted to install his own man once he was fully in the driving seat of the club.
Although Slade’s achievement in keeping Albion up was rewarded with a permanent two-year deal in the summer of 2009, the new season got off to a terrible start with no wins in the first six games, one of which saw Albion on the wrong end of a 7-1 thumping at Huddersfield.
Time was up for Slade after rocky start to the season
With only three wins and three draws in the next 10 games, after a 3-3 home draw against Hartlepool at the end of October, Slade was sacked with the side only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Bloom said: “It is not a decision we have taken lightly and one taken with a heavy heart. Russell is a good man – which made it an even harder decision to take – but it is one which has been made in the club’s best interests.
“Like all Albion fans, I am extremely grateful for Russell’s achievements at the end of last season, as he kept us in League One against the odds.”
When he reflected on his tenure in the Albion book Match of My Life, Slade explained: “Despite the club’s perilous position, I felt it was a great opportunity. I signed on a short-term deal, with the incentive to keep the club in the division.
“I inherited a huge squad but it was decimated by injuries and many of the players were loan signings or youngsters, but, in spite of that, I still thought there was enough within the squad to keep Brighton up.”
With 14 games to save the club from the drop, the first two ended in defeats but when Slade’s previous employer Yeovil Town were thumped 5-0 at the Withdean, there was cause for optimism.
A 3-2 Withdean win for Swindon, for whom Gordon Greer and Billy Paynter scored, threatened Brighton’s survival but it turned out to be the only defeat in the last seven games.
Albion memorably lifted themselves out of the relegation zone three games from the end of the season when they won 2-1 at Bristol Rovers, long-serving Gary Hart teeing up goals for Owusu and Palace loanee Calvin Andrew. Both players were also on target to earn a point in a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield.
After safety was secured in the last game of the season courtesy of barely-fit substitute Nicky Forster’s goal against Stockport, fans invaded the pitch and Slade was carried shoulder high by the Albion faithful.
“My hat got nicked and my head scratched, but it didn’t really matter,” he said. “When I finally got back to the office, I sat there with Bob Booker and Dean White and was absolutely exhausted – both emotionally and physically.”
Born in Wokingham on 10 October 1960, Slade’s route into professional football didn’t follow the traditional path.
“At 18 I had a chance to go to Notts County but I got into university so I went away to get a degree in sport instead,” he said. After completing his degree over four years at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lancashire, he became a PE teacher at Frank Wheldon Comprehensive School in Nottingham (it later became Carlton Academy).
“My experiences helped me be more prepared and organised,” he explained. “I took numerous coaching courses and it allows you to be really open minded and dealing with different situations.
“I had qualifications to be a coach in swimming, athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket and tennis. It not only broadens your horizons but allows you to look at things in different ways.”
While he was qualifying as a teacher, he joined Notts County as a non-contract amateur player, appearing in their reserves and manager Neil Warnock appointed him an assistant youth coach under youth team head coach Mick Walker.
When Warnock was sacked in January 1993, County were bottom of football’s second tier (having been relegated from the top flight in the final season before the Premier League started), and Walker and Slade took charge of the first team, keeping them up with three points to spare.
The pair almost took County to the play-offs the following season, only missing out by three points, and also reached the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Brescia at Wembley.
After only one win at the start of the 1994-95 season, Walker was sacked in September and Slade took over as caretaker manager.
After managing only six wins and five draws in 23 matches, Slade reverted to assistant when ex-Everton boss Howard Kendall was appointed manager.
Kendall only lasted three months at Meadow Lane and Slade left the club at the same time but he later acknowledged how much he had learned from Kendall, Warnock and Jimmy Sirrel (an ex-Albion player who was a Notts County legend as manager and general manager).
“I’ve had a good upbringing,” he said. “The one for player management and for talking to players was Howard Kendall, without a doubt.
“He was terrific – had something about him. He had that X factor and you would listen to Howard – and when he coached you took it on board as well.”
Slade told walesonline.co.uk: “Working with Howard was massive because of his man management and his ability to give a football club direction.
“Neil was the big motivator out of all the coaches and managers I have worked with over the years.
“He took County into the top flight and his best work came at 10 minutes to three. He was exceptional, able to get every last drop of effort and energy from his team.”
Slade dropped into non-league football as manager of Southern League Midland Division Armitage but when they finished bottom of the division and then went into liquidation, Slade followed the chairman Sid Osborn to his new club, Leicester United.
That side finished 16th in the Southern League Midland Division, but they too went out of business in August 1996.
Kendall, in charge of Sheffield United, recruited Slade as youth team coach at Bramall Lane and even tried to take him with him when he returned to Everton in June 1997, but Blades demanded a compensation payment the Toffees weren’t prepared to pay.
Kendall said some while later: “I wanted Russell, who I knew from Notts County, to come and coach my kids. He was at Sheffield United at the time, and they didn’t want to lose him. He’s a talented coach who would have been a popular figure at Goodison.”
Slade remained in Sheffield and, in an interview with The Guardian in October 2013, recalled: “My best three spots were when I was at Sheffield United [in 1998].
“At the time I was doing a lot of work on released players because we needed to strengthen our youth squad and in one evening I took Phil Jagielka, Nick Montgomery and Michael Tonge – all for nothing.”
Montgomery made just short of 400 appearances for United and Tonge and Jagielka both played more than 300 games for the club. Jagielka became one of the best defenders in the top flight (at Everton) and won 40 England international caps.
“That was my best night’s work ever,” said Slade. “You don’t half get a buzz when you see those. When we played Everton in the [Capital One] Cup last season Phil gave me a signed shirt with ‘Thanks very much, Russ’ written on it.”
It was in March 1998 that Slade found himself in caretaker charge of the United first team after the departure of Nigel Spackman, overseeing a draw and a defeat, and he also stepped in for two games in November 1999 when Adrian Heath left the club, again overseeing a draw and a defeat before Warnock arrived at Bramall Lane.
It was at Scarborough where Slade landed his first full-time job as a league manager in his own right. During a three-year spell, he helped rescue the club from relegation, resigned when they went into administration but withdrew it when a fans petition urged him to stay.
A highlight was guiding the side on an excellent FA Cup run, when they memorably played Premier League Chelsea in a televised home tie. The Seadogs were only defeated 1-0 by a Chelsea side that included a young Alexis Nicolas in their line-up.
Next up for Slade was the first of two spells as manager of Grimsby Town. Supporters were calling for his head when they only managed a mid-table finish in the 2004-05 season, but an upturn the following season saw them flirt with automatic promotion and have a good run in the League Cup, beating Derby County and Tottenham.
Slade’s Mariners beat a Spurs side that included Jermaine Jenas, Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe 1-0. In the next round they went down 1-0 at home to a Newcastle United side managed by Graeme Souness, a goal from Alan Shearer sealing it for the visitors.
Grimsby slipped into the play-offs on the last day of the season and beat local rivals Lincoln City in the semi-finals to reach the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.
But they missed out on promotion when Cheltenham Town edged the tie 1-0, and Slade was on his way.
He might not have reached League One with Grimsby but he was taken on by Yeovil Town on a three-year contract, declaring when appointed: “It is a fantastic opportunity for me as I think Yeovil are a very progressive club. They are going through a period of transition and I am really looking forward to the challenges that are ahead.”
Slade once again found himself a play-off final loser when the Glovers, captained by Nathan Jones, lost 2-0 to Blackpool in the 2007 League One end-of-season decider at Wembley.
It was a heartbreaking finish especially after Yeovil pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of play-off football by coming from 2-0 down to beat Nottingham Forest 5-4 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
“Russell Slade’s side gained many plaudits for an impressive campaign in which they almost went up despite being one of the pre-season favourites for relegation,” said somersetlive.co.uk.
Small consolation for Slade was to receive the League One Manager of the Year award, but disappointment followed in 2007-08 when they won only four games in the second half of the season to leave them only four points clear of relegation.
When things didn’t improve in 2008-09, a frustrated Slade reportedly fell out with Yeovil chairman John Fry over a lack of transfer funds and he left Huish Park by mutual consent in February 2009.
The vacancy at the Albion was almost tailor-made for Slade, and chairman Dick Knight admitted he had spoken with the aforementioned former Seagull, Nathan Jones, about the managerial candidate.
“I had a long chat with Nathan and he told me some good stuff,” Knight told the Argus. “It was a very honest appraisal and I took that into account.
“When I met with Russell initially he impressed me greatly. His CV speaks for itself and his confidence and tactical shrewdness were obvious when I interviewed him.
“He has delivered at this level. He has an extremely competent track record at clubs who have punched above their weight, like Grimsby and Yeovil.
“His players like him. He will convey confidence to our squad and give them a lift.”
Stockport chief Jim Gannon had turned down the job and former England international Paul Ince didn’t even want to hold talks.
“The quality of applications was tremendous, even up to the last minute, from the top of the top league in Romania to one from Portugal which was very interesting but not appropriate at this time,” said Knight.
“By handing the mantle to Russell at this stage, the club is in good hands to address the task right now of staying in League One. We have got a very good and capable man.”
The rest, as they say, is history and, to borrow another familiar phrase, it was a case of not keeping a good man down after his departure from the Seagulls.
It wasn’t long before Barry Hearn, the sports promoter owner of Leyton Orient, was hiring Slade to try to improve the fortunes of the East London minnows.
It turned out to be a great move because Orient was where Slade had his longest ever spell as a manager, presiding over 241 matches with a 42 per cent win ratio.
Amongst the players he recruited were two who had played under him at Brighton: Andrew Whing and Dean Cox. Ex-Seagull from another era, Alex Revell, also joined and a certain Harry Kane took his first steps into competitive football on loan from Spurs on Slade’s watch.
The manager’s trademark baseball cap that he could be seen wearing at each of the clubs he served even had its own sponsor at Orient. City of London tax advisory firm Westleton Drake put their logo on the headwear.
Slade repeated the magic touch he’d shown at Brighton to keep Orient in League One and in his first full season in charge took them to seventh place, only missing out on the play-offs by one place.
Along the way was a memorable fifth round FA Cup tie with Arsenal, forcing a 1-1 draw at home before succumbing 5-0 at the Emirates.
There was certainly no questioning Slade’s commitment to the Os’ cause, as Simon Johnson, writing for the Evening Standard on 23 September 2010, observed: “His wife Lisa and four children are living more than 200 miles away in Scarborough, meaning he is all alone most evenings to worry about the side’s plight.”
Slade lived in one of the flats next to the stadium and told Johnson: “Most people get the chance to get away from the office if they have a bad day, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I come back from training and work in the office for a few hours and then go to my flat. I love my job and enjoy the fact my finger is on the pulse and I’m right on top of things.”
When Sheffield United sacked manager David Weir (later to become Albion’s director of football) in October 2013, there was speculation Slade might be in the running for the job, but the out of work Nigel Clough was appointed.
The following Spring, Slade once again found himself in charge of a team in the final of the League One play-offs. Although Orient drew 2-2 with Rotherham United, they missed their last two penalties in the shoot-out to decide the winner and once again he left Wembley disappointed. His only consolation was once again being named League One Manager of the Year.
Even though the club narrowly missed out on the step up to the Championship, Slade himself made it shortly into the new season. After a change of ownership at Orient, Slade resigned and was appointed manager at Cardiff City in October 2014, succeeding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
History records Slade’s reign being heavily hampered by a lack of finance and being forced to cut the wage bill significantly and cancelling the contracts of several highly paid players. There was even an embargo on new signings during his second season.
The Bluebirds finished mid-table in his first season and then missed out on the play-offs the following season, losing 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season to dash hopes of a top six finish.
Slade was removed from his post to be replaced by his head coach Paul Trollope (later Albion assistant manager to Chris Hughton) but was retained as Head of Football.
Slade decided it wasn’t for him and switched to a more familiar dugout job at Charlton Athletic.
Given a three-year contract by unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet, Slade lasted just 16 matches before he was sacked, although a club statement said: “The club would like to thank Russell for his tireless work during his time at The Valley, particularly the processes and disciplines he has instilled at the training ground.”
He wasn’t out of work for long, though, because Coventry City, sitting 21st in League One and enduring their worst run of results for 43 years, appointed him.
On the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers in his opening match, on Boxing Day, he oversaw just three wins in 16 games and was sacked on 5 March.
In circumstances similar to the atmosphere at The Valley, Sky Blues fans were in dispute with the club’s owners, and the Ricoh Stadium was empty week after week.
Surprisingly, he guided the club to a Checkatrade Trophy final – Coventry later won the competition in front of more than 40,000 of their supporters at Wembley – but by then Slade had been sacked, having equalled the record for the most games (nine) without a win for a City manager before winning at the tenth attempt.
Andy Turner, writing for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, pulled no punches when he said: “Russell Slade will go down in Coventry City history as arguably the worst manager to have taken charge of the club.”
Slade’s take on it was: “It was not a good decision for me to go there, I didn’t do my homework enough before going there.”
Once again, though, Slade was back in work just over a month later when he returned to one of his former clubs, Grimsby Town.
Succeeding Marcus Bignot, Slade took charge with Grimsby 14th in League Two and they won two and drew another of their remaining five matches to stay in that position by the season’s end.
After making an encouraging enough start to the 2017-18 season, the side’s form dipped badly over the festive period, and with no wins on the board the club sank like a stone towards a relegation battle. Slade was sacked after a run of 12 games without a win, including eight defeats.
There was no swift return to management after his Grimsby departure, though, and it was another 18 months before he next took charge of a side, National League North side Hereford United, with former Albion full-back Andrew Whing as his assistant.
Not long afterwards, though, Slade started up his own business, Global Sports Data and Technology, and his tenure with the Bulls lasted only five months, club chairman Andrew Graham saying: “Unfortunately the existing business commitments of Russell Slade do not meet with the current demands of this football club.” Hereford had recorded only one win in 18 games at the time.
The ever-resilient Slade was back in the game the following month when his former player, Alex Revell, appointed manager at Stevenage, invited him to join his staff as a managerial consultant.
Revell, who played under Slade at Orient and Cardiff, said: “I have always respected Russ and it will be a great boost to be able to use his experience around the training ground and on matchdays.”
Plenty of disgruntled fans from clubs where Slade had been less than successful took to social media to mock the appointment.
Nevertheless, Revell was certainly right about experience because Slade could reflect on a managerial career that saw him serve 11 different clubs, taking charge of 865 matches, winning 314, drawing 240 and losing 311.
In his new venture, Slade champions the cause of the way performance data information is handled, as described in a BBC news item in October 2021.
It focuses on companies who take data and process it without consent. “It’s making football – and all sports – aware of the implications and what needs to change,” he said.
SCOUSE defender Jim McNulty, who played alongside Wayne Rooney at Everton as a schoolboy, will probably always be remembered by Brighton fans for a horror injury he suffered in a match at Withdean.
After an on-off transfer saga in which McNulty initially rejected Albion’s desire to sign him, the £150,000 signing from Stockport County scored on his debut and less than three weeks later was involved in an accidental collision that threatened to end his career at 23.
In only his fifth game after under-pressure boss Micky Adams finally landed the left back, a seemingly innocuous challenge as a Crewe defender caught him with his knee in his side quickly became much more serious when he started passing blood.
“Having walked back to the changing room I remember having the sensation of needing to go to the toilet and it was then that blood started spurting out,” he recounted. “I was also throwing up and the real scary part was the look of concern on the medical team’s faces.
“I was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital for an MRI scan and had a catheter inserted as my belly was swelling up. It was then that I discovered one of my kidneys had capitulated.
“I was on the bed in the hospital after the scan when the surgeon said 90 per cent of the kidney is mush and I don’t believe you can play again,” McNulty told the club’s official website.
Nine years later, ahead of facing Harry Kane for Rochdale against Spurs in the FA Cup, McNulty told Ivan Speck of the Express: “It was instant tears. I was there with my father and fiancée, at the time. I remember crying into my dad’s chest.
“It was probably a bit of everyday information for him but, for me, football was my life and he should have stayed quiet until he was better informed. It still winds me up now.
“The FA actually got wind of the news and their doctor spoke with our club doctor. They had spoken to some rugby guys in the southern hemisphere because it’s a more common injury in rugby than it is in football.
“It was nonsense to suggest it would end my career.”
Initially, because he was a professional sportsman, the medics tried two operations to save the kidney but, when he was still passing blood three weeks later, the decision was taken to remove it.
McNulty described incredible pain he had to endure but realised once he had gone through with the operation that he would be able to play football again.
Amazingly, he was able to return to training within three months although he had a lot of work to do to rebuild his fitness. Within four weeks he was even able to play in a couple of pre-season friendlies.
However, McNulty went on to suffer a number of knock-on injuries because his posture was affected by having an empty space on the right side of his body.
“I had multiple ankle injuries because my pelvic alignment was a nightmare from that point on,” he said.
The first came just when it looked like he would make a return to league action in September 2009. He damaged his ankle ligaments on a local park pitch while training ahead of the 7-1 defeat at Huddersfield and was ruled out for a further four weeks.
His long-awaited return to first team action came in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie away to Leyton Orient on 6 October, which Albion lost 1-0.
“Just to get out on the pitch and on the ball was fantastic,” he said. “I cramped up after about 70 minutes but the reaction from our fans was tremendous.”
McNulty told the matchday programme: “I have no intention of just sitting around, hoping to break into the side. I want to be playing every week now. I’m fit, raring to go and I want to help us get up the table.”
The unlucky McNulty then missed the following Saturday’s match at MK Dons, enduring yet more pain when he had to have two wisdom teeth extracted.
Nevertheless, McNulty’s eventual return to league action followed on 13 October in a 2-0 Withdean win over a Gillingham side which featured former Albion loanee Simon Royce in goal.
Astonishingly, the following Saturday, he lasted only 27 minutes before injury struck again in a 2-1 defeat away to Tranmere. He limped off with an ankle injury and Jake Wright was sent on to replace him. Glenn Murray scored a penalty consolation for the Albion and was then sent off for a second yellow card.
By the time McNulty was fit enough to return, the second manager of his brief time at the Albion, Russell Slade, had been replaced by Gus Poyet. His first involvement under the new boss saw him go on as a sub against: Charlton at home on 1 December.
He then went on as an 87th minute substitute for his good friend Gary Dicker at Exeter and provided the all-important cross from which Andrew Crofts headed the only goal of the game in the 92nd minute.
He had what one observer described as a man of the match involvement as a sub in the next match, a 2-1 home defeat v Colchester United. Saying the left back was “the epitome of Poyet’s ‘bravery on the ball’ mantra”, Richie Morris wrote: “Jimmy McNulty, like a rampaging glove-wearing gazelle, mercilessly attacked the left flank. Time and again he delivered teasing crosses, and time and again the ball simply would not nestle in the net.”
McNulty celebrates with goalscorer Tommy Elphick
That performance was rewarded with four starts on the trot – but then Poyet brought in the cultured Marcos Painter as his preferred left-back. McNulty was in the Albion side that put on a decent show in a 3-2 fourth round FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa, because Painter was ineligible, but he didn’t make another start that season. And, as it turned out, he didn’t play for the club again. He’d actually only played 16 times for the Albion.
Before the end of the season, to get some games, McNulty actually stepped up a level, going on loan to Scunthorpe United in the Championship, where he made two starts and a sub appearance under Nigel Adkins.
He rejoined The Iron in July 2010 on a six-month loan arrangement and played six games. But he suffered a recurrence of his ankle issues, so returned to Brighton in December.
When Albion kicked off a new era playing Championship football at the Amex, McNulty had stayed at the same level but with Barnsley, where he was voted players’ player of the year in his first season, and was made captain in his second season at Oakwell.
McNulty certainly wasn’t bitter about the way things turned out for him in Sussex. He said: “I couldn’t speak more highly of my time with Brighton. It is an unbelievable club, an unbelievable fan base, and it was an incredible place to live.
“My daughter was born there and we had a brilliant time, despite the fact that I was horrendously injured for pretty much all of that time.
“I’ve always been a 40-game-a-season man wherever I’ve been, but at Brighton I hardly played at all. Saying that, it was the club I had the best time at.”
Born in Runcorn on 13 February 1985, Liverpool and Everton were both interested in him when he was young, but it was Everton who put a contract offer in front of him.
“At the time I actually played for Everton against Liverpool in a game at Melwood,” he explained. “This would have been in the under-9s and we absolutely destroyed them.
“Ourselves and Arsenal dominated in that particular age group, right up to the under-16s – every week, every game, every season. Everton were a very dominant team and it gave me a great grounding, so I chose the right team.”
Initially a central midfield player, McNulty was switched to left-back during his time at Everton. Although Rooney was in the year below him, from under-10s, he was put up an age level. “I played with him for about four years until he jumped up again,” said McNulty. “He was playing two or three years up during the teenage years. I was just always playing at my own age.
“He was incredible, incredible. It was like watching a man play with boys in terms of his strength and aggression. He was pinging balls 70 yards as a 10- or 11-year-old boy.
“We couldn’t really lift it off the floor yet. His technique and the power that he had as a young boy, he was devastating at that age. He’d score eight goals every week. He’s one of the reasons we were so rampant as a team. Probably the main reason.”
McNulty moved on to Wrexham to make his breakthrough at senior level, ironically going on as a sub against Stockport in a Northern Section Football League Trophy game which the Welsh side lost 5-4 after extra time.
Because he had a Scottish mother, Englishman McNulty was selected for Scotland at under-17 and under-19 level, although one of his worst footballing memories came while playing for Scotland against France when they were beaten 5-0 in the European Under-19s Championship.
“I always remember being particularly mentally scarred by one player,” he said. “He was a winger and I was at left-back – and he scored four, so obviously that was mentally scarring. His name was Jimmy Briand.”
Briand went on to have a 20-year playing career in France and Germany and played five times for the senior French national team, but McNulty didn’t make it to the Scots full international side.
“There was a time when I had some genuine belief that it might happen,” he told The Sunday Post. “I had a good season in my first year at Barnsley in the Championship, in 2011, and ended up being named player of the year and made captain of the club.
“At the time, Scotland were having a bit of a defender crisis, and there was an opportunity there. I actually thought, ‘My name might come out of the hat here.’ But they ended up choosing a couple of guys who were playing in League One at the time ahead of me. That was a bit of a disappointment.”
But back to those early days, and when he didn’t make further progress at Wrexham he dropped down to League of Wales level to play for Bangor City and Caernarfon Town, but in June 2006, former Albion skipper and manager Brian Horton signed him for Macclesfield Town.
“I appreciate what Brian did for me, bringing me back into league football,” he said. “I was playing non-league football in Wales and he gave me a chance to come back and prove myself.”
He spent 18 months at Macclesfield, where he also played under Paul Ince, before moving to Stockport on a free transfer in January 2007. He became part of the County side that won promotion via the League Two play-off final at Wembley, when they beat another of his future employers, Rochdale, 3-2 in front of a crowd of 35,000.
McNulty was reluctant to give up a League One promotion tilt at County to join struggling Albion but chairman Dick Knight and manager Adams spoke of the club’s ambition and he was finally persuaded.
Albion needed a left back after loan signing Matt Richards had returned to Ipswich and
Adams said: “He fits the profile of what we are looking for. He likes getting forward and, without being disrespectful to anyone who has played there before, he is a natural defender, and he is six-foot two. At one stage it looked like we had lost out, so I am delighted to get him.”
Knight and Adams finally persuade their man to sign for the Albion
McNulty was not alone as Knight sanctioned quite a spending spree on new signings – Craig Davies, Calvin Andrew, Seb Carole, Jason Jarrett and Chris Birchall also arrived in that window, all financed by Tony Bloom, a low-profile investor at that time.
“I am very satisfied,” said Adams. “Finding a left back was a major priority. We haven’t been scoring the amount of goals we should, so we needed to look at avenues to open up teams. We have got Carole and Birchall for that.
“We also needed two strikers (Davies and Andrew) to increase the striking options and we needed a bit more physical strength in midfield, which is why Jason (Jarrett) is there, so I can’t complain.
“I had to be patient to make sure the right type of player was available and at the right price. Two of them were money buys and I am delighted that the board have backed me.”
Both Davies and McNulty were on the scoresheet when Peterborough visited the Withdean on 10 February but Barry Fry’s side took away the three points courtesy of a 4-2 win; Craig Mackail-Smith scoring for Posh along with strike partner Aaron McLean (two) and Dean Keates.
With only one League One win in six and a hoped-for tilt at silverware – the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – gone in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Luton Town, the second coming of Adams was over. That horrendous injury to McNulty came while Dean White was caretaker manager and, when new boss Russell Slade arrived, one of his first tasks was to bring in Gary Borrowdale on loan from QPR to cover McNulty’s absence.
A change in manager often spells bad news for certain players and, after those successful first two seasons at Barnsley, McNulty found his face didn’t fit when David Flitcroft succeeded Keith Hill as manager. He’d only had one first team outing in a Capital One Cup tie against Southampton.
He grabbed the chance to join Tranmere Rovers on loan in November 2013, although he told the Liverpool Echo: “I have not even had a chance there. I think I should still be playing for Barnsley.
“They are struggling defensively this season and had been conceding a lot of goals. But now I’m thinking about helping Tranmere.”
Rovers boss Ronnie Moore said: “Jim is a knowledgeable player and a good talker. He settled in quickly here. He is a footballing centre-back, rather than the Terry Butcher type. I don’t think you will see too many cuts and bandages around Jim’s head. He is clever. He drops off and picks the ball up.”
In January 2014, McNulty reached a mutual agreement with Barnsley to terminate his contract and he switched to Bury under old boss Flitcroft. He played 51 times for the League Two Shakers before beginning a long association with Rochdale in 2015.
McNulty in control with the Shakers
Over eight seasons, McNulty played a total of 237 matches for Dale, eventually combining coaching with playing. In August 2022, he found himself in interim charge for three matches after the club sacked Robbie Stockdale.
Former Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was appointed manager but when his services were dispensed with in March 2023, with Rochdale at the foot of League Two, 2023, McNulty once again stepped in as boss.
He was unable to prevent the club’s 102-year reign as a league club coming to an end but, in May 2023, he was appointed manager on a two-year deal.
“The opportunity to lead our team and represent our club, which the fans cherish, has always been a dream of mine,” he said.
“To be given the opportunity at a club so close to mine and my family’s hearts, is really special to me.
“As a boy, first and foremost, I dreamt of becoming a footballer, then when I did, I very quickly knew I wanted to become a manager thereafter.
“Within a couple of years of being a Dale player, I knew that this would be the club where I hoped to fulfil that ambition.”
DAVID STOCKDALE kept 20 clean sheets as Brighton were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.
He was chosen by his peers in the PFA Championship team of the year and was runner up to Anthony Knockaert as player of the season.
What seemed like a mystery at the time, though, was that he then remained in the Championship by signing a three-year contract with Birmingham City (at the time managed by Harry Redknapp).
“I’m not ashamed to say I put my family first and football second for a change,” Stockdale explained, referring to his desire to sign a longer term deal than the Seagulls offered because he didn’t want the upheaval of a move that might have unsettled his daughter’s education at a time she was about to take exams.
Stockdale had joined the Seagulls from Fulham in the summer of 2014 and was first choice ‘keeper for three seasons, playing a total of 139 matches for the club.
Remembered for some notable performances between the sticks, Stockdale impressed off it too. In the wake of the Shoreham air crash, he showed great compassion for the victims.
Before the next game, away to Ipswich Town, he wore personalised gloves and a training top bearing the names of two of them, Albion groundsman Matt Grimstone, who was Worthing United’s goalkeeper, and his teammate Jacob Schilt.
He also spent time talking to Matt’s family, visiting with Albion ambassador Alan Mullery. “We are all guilty of complaining about the little things in life but there are far more important things to worry about and I wish more people realised that,” he told the matchday programme.
At the end of the season, Stockdale’s support was recognised by the award of the PFA Community Champion trophy. “A lot of tears were shed,” he told Albion reporter Andy Naylor, when he got the inside track on Stockdale’s story in an interview for The Athletic on 17 November 2019.
“I’d spoken to Matt a few times, with him being a goalkeeper. We used to shout across at each other. I’d joke, ‘You come and train with us and I’ll do that (groundskeeping)’.”
The way the club rallied round didn’t surprise the goalkeeper because he’d heard good things from Fulham teammate and all time Albion legend Bobby Zamora when he was mulling over the move.
“I knew it was a good club, a very progressive club, but when Bobby told me it was the best club, that was good enough for me,” he said.
There was a familiar face waiting for him at training too because the goalkeeping coach when he arrived was Antti Niemi, who had taken him under his wing in his early days at Fulham.
“I was only 21 at the time, at a big Premier League club, and he spoke to me a lot in those early days,” he said. “Although he’s the goalkeeping coach here now, it sometimes feels the same as it did back then.
“He’s the one putting on the sessions now, and I’ve enjoyed them like I did when I trained with him before,” he said.
Even so, Stockdale was even more impressed by Niemi’s successor, Ben Roberts. “There’s no better goalkeeping coach than him,” he said. “Ben and I had tried to work together at previous clubs and it hadn’t come off. So, when we finally did at Brighton, he said ‘this is what I want you to work on, stay with me and trust me and the process’.
“It wasn’t always easy, I was 30 at the time trying to adapt my style, sometimes it’s hard. But I trusted him and it worked. He’s shown with numerous keepers that he can help anyone improve. That’s why people hold him in such high regard.”
A personal highlight for Stockdale came in January 2017 at the Amex when he made a double save from a Fernando Forestieri penalty against Sheffield Wednesday that helped put Brighton top of the division.
Less memorable were two own goals in a 2-0 defeat at Norwich City when Alex Pritchard shots rebounded off the woodwork, hit him and went in.
And when Albion had a chance to clinch the Championship title at Villa Park, Stockdale fumbled a long-range Jack Grealish shot to concede a late equaliser which meant Newcastle finished top instead.
“I left with great memories, on a high, apart from the Villa game,” Stockdale told Naylor. “It was one of those when everyone knows it was a mistake. It just wasn’t meant to be, but as a player you feel the responsibility.
“We got what we wanted, got promoted, but I think it left a bit of a bad feeling.”
Born in Leeds on 20 September 1985, Stockdale stayed in Yorkshire in the early part of his career, initially in the youth sides of Huddersfield Town and York City.
It was York who took him on as a trainee, in 2000, and in the last game of the 2002-03 season, aged just 17, Terry Dolan gave him his first team debut as a half-time substitute for Michael Ingham, who was suffering a shoulder injury, although City lost 2-0 to Oxford United.
By then in the Conference, Stockdale made 19 consecutive appearances for the Minstermen between August and December 2004 before being dropped by caretaker manager Viv Busby.
It was during that run of games that Stockdale first gained international recognition, being selected for the England C (non-league) squad for a friendly v Italy (he went on as a sub for Nikki Bull).
After his club disappointment, he told the York Evening Press: “I was gutted when I was taken out of the team but I’ve just gone back to the training ground and worked as hard as I can.
“I have got my best years to come. I am only 19 and I hope I can get a contract for next year and stay at the club.”
When former Albion midfielder Billy McEwan took charge, he offered Stockdale his first professional contract, although the youngster prevaricated over signing it, much to the manager’s dismay.
McEwan told the York Evening Press: “If the players don’t want to sign, then it’s up to them. They can go because I want players who want to play for York City Football Club.
“But David Stockdale is the biggest disappointment to me and I have told him that. He’s a young apprentice getting his first professional contract and the last thing in his mind should be money. That should be of secondary importance and he should be grateful York City are offering him a contract.
“On the evidence of his last performance of the season, he has to do better if he wants to get into the team.
“At the moment, he has potential but so have a lot of players. Maybe he feels he can get an automatic number one spot but that’s up for grabs this summer.”
Shortly after signing the contract, Stockdale went on loan to Northern Premier League club Wakefield-Emley and the following March joined Worksop Town on a temporary basis.
Stockdale was released by York at the end of the 2005-06 season with some more harsh words from McEwan about his weight ringing in his ears. After signing for League Two Darlington, Stockdale told the York Evening Press being released had been the incentive he needed to save his career.
“I have done well in pre-season and got back into shape after letting myself go at York, which was well-documented,” he said. “I accept now that was the case and agree with the manager but I would have preferred not to have been criticised in public.
“It has probably given me a kick up the backside though to get me going again and I feel a better person now. I would have loved to have stayed at York because I was there for a long time and have a great affection for the club.
“I would like to thank everybody there for all the help they have given me. The fans were always great and I learnt everything there so it was a bit of a shock to go.”
Clearly benefiting from full-time goalkeeping coaching from former Darlington, Bristol Rovers and Middlesbrough no.1 Andy Collett, Stockdale became manager Dave Penney’s preferred first choice ‘keeper, ousting former Derby and Bolton stopper Andy Oakes.
Scouts from Birmingham and Newcastle were said to be monitoring his development but it was Fulham who stepped in and signed him in April 2008 for an undisclosed sum (thought to be £350,000 rising to a possible £600,000). He was loaned back to Darlo to finish the season when they lost out in the League Two play-off semi-finals.
Although he was at Fulham for six years, much of Stockdale’s time on their books was spent out on loan: in League Two with Rotherham United, League One at Leicester City, and in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Hull City.
Temporary Tractor Boy
Nevertheless, his parent club did give him a reasonable sprinkling of first team outings: he played a total of 52 games, 39 in the Premier League.
Indeed in 2011, when he was covering for the injured Mark Schwarzer, Fabio Capello, the England boss at the time, called him up for international duty, although he didn’t get to play.
His best run of games for Fulham in the Premier League came in the 2013-14 season when he made 21 appearances (he also played five cup games).
After he left Brighton, Stockdale was Birmingham’s first choice ‘keeper throughout the 2017-18 season (apart from two months out with an injured wrist). He played 39 games, having replaced the previous season’s no.1, Tomasz Kuszczak, who had also moved to City from Brighton.
Blues only narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship with Redknapp only lasting until mid-September as manager; Lee Carsley briefly in temporary charge, Steve Cotterill for five months and then Garry Monk.
Monk brought in Lee Camp as his first-choice ‘keeper and Stockdale was sent out on loan to three different League One clubs: Southend United (on an emergency seven-day arrangement), Wycombe Wanderers and Coventry City.
After making a single appearance for Birmingham under Monk’s successor Pep Clotet at the start of the 2019-20 season, Stockdale rejoined Wycombe in January 2020 on a half-season loan.
He then moved to Wycombe on a permanent contract in September 2020 but only played twice, with Ryan Allsop the preferred no.1. In February 2021, he linked up with League Two Stevenage on loan and played five matches before having to return to Wycombe when Allsop was injured.
He kept the shirt until the end of the season, when Wanderers were relegated to League One, and, with Allsop having been released, Stockdale stepped up and was ever-present throughout the 2021-22 season. His 18 clean sheets earned him the League One Golden Glove award, jointly with Michael Cooper of Plymouth.
Nevertheless, with his contract up, he then returned to Yorkshire, signing for Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday, where he played 27 games in the 2022-23 season.
They say what goes around comes around, and at the start of the 2023-24 season Stockdale went back to York City, although he sustained an injury early on in the season that caused him to be sidelined from the National League team.
As well as his familiar playing role, Stockdale began to look towards a time when he hangs up the gloves by also being appointed York’s head of recruitment. However, he was let go from the role in April 2024.
Away from his direct involvement in club football, he began a postgraduate diploma in Global Football Sport Directorship with the PFA Business School.
EXPECTATIONS of a bright future in Albion’s colours fizzled out for Taylor Richards after the most audacious of starts.
Richards cheekily scored with a Panenka chipped penalty in a pre-season friendly against Crawley Town which instantly made the watching supporters take notice of the new signing from Manchester City.
It was reported Albion paid £2.5 million for the 18-year-old when he decided to move on after four years moving through the youth ranks at City.
“I did not have to leave because I still had years on my contract,” he told the Argus. “I just felt that I needed a new challenge.
“When I found out that Brighton were interested in me I was also made aware that I had a chance of breaking into the first-team further down the line.
“That is all I wanted to hear, that if you do well and train well, you’ll be given opportunities.
“But I would not change my time at City for anything. The only thing I would change is probably not taking my opportunity as well as I should have done.
“When you’re in that comfortable environment, you do not always realise what you have and maybe take your foot off the gas a little, but it’s all a learning experience and one I really enjoyed.”
Richards did get his wish of making it through to Albion’s first team, but his involvement was very sporadic and after a season on loan at Championship side Queens Park Rangers, he eventually moved there permanently in the summer of 2023.
For Richards, it was a case of moving home. Having been born in Hammersmith on 4 December 2000, he grew up in Shepherd’s Bush – although his football journey began in the academy at Fulham.
City took him north at the age of just 14 and he earned a scholarship aged 16. Eventually, he became a regular for City’s under-18s.
In February 2017, he played for England under-17s in a tournament on the Algarve, starting in a 1-0 defeat to Portugal and going on for City teammate Phil Foden in a 3-2 win away to Germany. Two days later, he started in England’s 1-0 win over the Netherlands. That side featured Jadon Sancho, who went through the age groups at City at the same time as Richards.
“I hung around with Sancho quite a lot because we went into the academy at the same time and we had a good connection,” he said. “What’s happened with his career proves you never know what might happen. It’s all about working hard and taking your opportunity when it comes.”
Taylor made seven appearances for City’s under 23s – three in 2017-18 and four in 2018-19 – although he didn’t feature in the first team. He was on the scoresheet in a Checkatrade Trophy quarter final match in January 2019 when City fought back from 2-0 down to beat Rochdale 4-2 (former Albion player Jim McNulty was on the scoresheet for Rochdale).
“Once you’re in that environment, winning is the only thing on the table and losing is no option,” he said. “Everyone’s at it and it’s a good place to be for a young player to get you ready for the men’s game. Every age group tried to do what the first team did. It was the same philosophy that went right through the academy, so when you stepped up to the next level, it made it easier.”
Richards made an instant name for himself shortly after signing for the Albion with that penalty against Crawley. He told the matchday programme: “I knew I was going to chip it, but I took a long run-up to make the goalkeeper think I was going to smash it.
“I’ve never had the fans sing my name before, so it’s a great moment for me and one I’ll cherish for life. Hopefully that left a nice impression, but it was only my first game.”
Head coach Graham Potter told the club website: “He showed his confidence with the penalty. He’s not been here long but is ambitious and wants a taste of first-team football. That’s always the challenge for young players, to get the right next step from youth football.
“He has quality and ability, so we’ll make an assessment of him and the right pathway for him to gain that first-team experience.”
The 2019-20 season was only two months old when Richards made his Albion competitive first team debut. A team comprising several youngsters lost 3-1 to an experienced Aston Villa side in the Carabao Cup at the Amex. “I remember chasing Douglas Luiz around the whole evening,” he said. “It was a long night, but a good night, apart from the result. It helped me a lot in understanding the level and what I needed to do to play against that level of opposition.”
With further first team chances unlikely because of the competition for places, Richards was sent on a year’s loan to Doncaster Rovers in 2020-21.
The attacking midfielder scored 11 goals in 48 appearances and learned a lot from the experience. “The manager, Darren Moore, wanted us to play football, which was a similar style to Brighton, but sometimes the other teams didn’t want to play,” he recalled. “They were a bit more long-ball, more physical, and I definitely came back a better player for it.”
He signed a new three-year contract at Brighton and was a non-playing substitute in the opening Premier League matchday squad, with head coach Potter saying: “Taylor has impressed during pre-season, and he was deservedly part of the first-team squad at Burnley last weekend.
“He had a very productive loan spell at Doncaster last season, and this new contract is a reward for his hard work and progress he’s made since he arrived.”
Richards made starts in two Carabao Cup matches (against Cardiff and Swansea) and went on as a sub in two league matches, replacing Jakub Moder in a 2-0 home defeat to Everton and taking over from Enock Mwepu in a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves.
Having made his league debut against Everton, with mum Shani watching on, he said: “I thought I did well. I was nervous, like most people would be, but I tried to keep the ball as much as I could, tried to give more going forward but this is my first game and I will learn from these moments and go again.
“Despite the result, because that comes first, I am happy I got on the pitch. My mum has been with me through this whole journey and she got to see me make my Premier League debut so it is a proud moment for me.”
But, in the second half of the season, he once again went out on loan, this time to Championship side Birmingham City, Albion boss Potter explaining: “Taylor has been with the first-team squad for the first part of the season, he has benefited from that time and he has made great progress during that time.
“He has played in the Carabao Cup ties and also made his Premier League debut. But we feel it is now important for him to play regular football during the second half of the season and he will get that opportunity with Birmingham, a club I know well.”
In a bizarre turn of events, it was two months before he was fit to start for the Blues because he injured an ankle doing the medical associated with the move.
Bemused Brum boss Lee Bowyer said: “I’ve never heard anything like this. It’s crazy. I have never heard of a player getting injured in the medical.”
After he had finally made his debut, Birmingham Mail reporter Brian Dick had a favourable impression. “He looked very, very neat on the ball, not afraid to take possession and retain it in tight spots and also good at finding little angles around and in the box.
“He is a languid mover with good pace and plays with his head up, looking to bring others into the game,” the reporter observed. “Of all the January recruits there was more buzz at the club about Taylor than anyone else – and the very early signs are promising.”
Bowyer pointed out: “He can score, he can assist, he can make that pass.”
However, he only made two starts for Blues, plus three from the bench, and in the summer the player switched to QPR on a season-long loan with the plan to make the move permanent.
“I haven’t got the words, it feels great to be at QPR,” said Richards, who had been taken to Loftus Road by his mum as a seven-year-old to watch his first ever game.
“I am from Shepherd’s Bush and all my family and friends support QPR,” he said. “Everyone is excited and I just can’t wait to get on the pitch, that’s where it matters.”
Mick Beale, the manager who signed him, declared: “Taylor is a very, very talented boy who I have watched extensively in the past.
“Given his age and the fact that he’s a Hammersmith boy, I think he’s perfect for us in terms of the identity we have as a team and as a club.
“He can travel with the ball and is powerful in his play, so we’re delighted to have him.”
Excited by the player’s versatility, Beale added: “He can play as a number 10, wide left, wide right – but predominately he is an attacking midfielder, a number eight. He gives more competition and our midfield is looking stronger for it.
“He is a midfielder who can dribble at speed, from one line to another – he can score and he can play.”
But Richards made only one start throughout the whole season, joining the action from the bench on 15 occasions. Nevertheless, when Gareth Ainsworth took over from Neil Critchley in February 2023 he was quick to acknowledge the player’s attributes.
“I like Taylor. I think he is a fantastically talented boy, I really do,” said Ainsworth. “He is very similar to some of the players I have come across in my management career before.
“But I think with young players today there is so much more to them than what you see on a Saturday, and it is our job as managers to work with them day in day out and work with them and give them clarity.
“Taylor is a fantastic player. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boy, but he has been at some top places and is highly thought of and highly thought of by this manager as well.”
Richards joined the Rs on a three-year deal ahead of the 2023-24 season.
A non-playing sub for their opening day 4-0 defeat to Watford, Richards was in the starting line-up for a first round Carabao Cup match at home to Norwich City, facing former Albion players Shane Duffy and (sub) Ashley Barnes, and the visitors edged it 1-0.
Having played only four league matches for QPR in 2023-24, in July 2024 Richards switched to League One Cambridge United on a season-long loan.
United manager Garry Monk said, “Taylor is an exciting talent who has huge potential to be an outstanding player in this league. He will bring another dimension to our team and we are very excited to work with him this season.”
Richards told the club website “It’s a big opportunity for me to come here and play some football – I just want to get out there and show what I can do.
“I want to get back to enjoying my football and if I am enjoying it, then everything else will come along with that.”
In parallel lines 